A Motorcyclist of Artillerie-Regiment 110

 

 

A motorcyclist of Stab / Artillerie-Regiment 110 - Germany, winter 1939/1940. Regimental Headquarter of Artillerie-Regiment 110 was a Heerestruppe (standalone unit subordinated to an army corps). It was initially attached to XVIII. Armeekorps during Polish invasion, then to III. Armeekorps during the western campaign. This color slide set begins from winter 1939 (like this frame) until the capitulation of France. The bike - with a license plate issued for Vienna until 1930 - is a DKW NZ 500. The NZ 500 model (489 cc, 18.5 hp at 4,200 rpm) featured not only an upgraded chassis and powertrain but also a spark plug rear suspension, which could be adjusted in rigidity depending on whether the motorcycle was used with a sidecar or in a solo version. The NZ 500 model was much less common, compared to NZ 250 and NZ 350. Most of the manufactured NZ 500 motorcycles were taken over by the Wehrmacht and were used in sidecar and solo versions in the cavalry, military police, and SS units.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222880587316691&set=gm.1655515797967170

German Motorcycle Messenger

Original color slide from a German motorcycle messenger (Kradmelder), somewhere in France around 1940. The bike is a DKW KS 200.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=271824844086347&set=gm.1470817449770340&type=3&theater&ifg=1
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=132&t=184255&p=2275726#p2275726

Luftwaffe Dispatch Rider with His Motorcycle

Dispatch rider from a Luftwaffe Field Division stands next to his DKW NZ250 krad, and note the early all leather motorcyclist glove. Because the weather is in a hot summer day, he is wearing a standard fliegerbluse uniform for Luftwaffe personnel and not a warm Kradmantel for dispatch rider. A despatch rider (or dispatch) is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle. Dispatch riders were used by armed forces to deliver urgent orders and messages between headquarters and military units. They had a vital role at a time when telecommunications were limited and insecure. They were also used to deliver carrier pigeons.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despatch_rider
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/bringing-colour-pix-back-to-life-t314755.html?sid=ad8cb2988a82a599c3c890f1e274c114

German Motorcycle Messenger in the Eastern Front

The ubiquitous German motorcycle messenger (Kradmelder) from Stab Artillerie-Regiment 110 in the Eastern Front with his DKW NZ 350, wearing his rubberized coat (Kradmantel) that has been wrapped and buttoned around his legs to keep dirt and dust off his uniform. The German military was the largest employers of motorcycles during World War II, 1939-45. On 22 June 1941 Germany launched its Operation Barbarossa, the 3-million-man invasion of the Soviet Union. During the campaigns that followed, the military motorcyclist served a variety of functions including chauffeur service for officers, delivering dispatches, even hot meals, as scouting patrols, as point vehicles taking the brunt of battle, sometimes as specially equipped tank destroyers. As with all motorcyclists, there was a kinship among these soldiers who called themselves “kradmelder” (military messenger). They rode exposed without the armor plating of the Panzers, without the safety of hundreds of foot soldiers beside them. Moving targets as it were, sniper magnets, and then there were mine fields, artillery fire, and strafing aircraft to contend with. The other enemy was the Russian weather. By autumn the roads had turned into nearly impassable bogs, the fields over which the motorcycles traveled turning in to “seas of jelly three feet more deep”. By winter, temperatures fell to -40 degrees Celsius, engine oil and exposed soldiers froze solid. Some German motorcycle riders benefited from special heating systems grafted onto their bikes, including foot and hand warmers. However, by war’s end, many if not most of the motorcycles, along with their riders, never returned home.

Source :
http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/thread/1258822102/Figure+info+needed
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/293719206921548684/
http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/german-motorcycle-courier-in-eastern-front-1942/

Bulgarian Civilian Giving Water to a German Army Motocyclist

Bulgarian civilian giving water to a german army motocyclist or Kradmelder (1942). The bike is NSU 601TS

Source:
http://thirdreichcolorpictures.blogspot.com/2010/08/german-motorcycles-in-color.html